HELIGOLAND 1914

NORWAY 1940

MALTA CONVOYS1941

J UTLAND

1916

ATLANTIC 1941

MEDITERRANEAN1941

FOREWORD FINALEThere is an awful lot to recommend serving in an L.P.D. and of course

Fearless iin particular. The main thing to recommend the ship this commissionis her splendid Ship's Company-and if you want a diverse life, where elsedo you find Royal Marines diving and driving aeroplanes and sailors doingall these things and forming a "Blue Beret" Platoon which lands in supportof the Embarked Force-and not only in the Internal Security role.

With only two such ships in the Royal Navy Fearless is bound to be ingreat demand, as the succeeding pages in this book will show. In a word-work hard and play hard.

I personally am very sorry to leave you and wish you every success for therest of the commission.

Captain Straker mentioned in his Foreword that Fearless was bound to bein demand-working hard and playing. The last nine months have been noexception: 2 Major N.A.T.O. Exercises, 4 National Exercises, 5 foreign visits,Schoolboys galore, not to mention the ship's part in "Operation Motorman".

All this you have done cheerfully and well, and it is with good reason wehave come to be known throughout the Fleet as "Friendly Fearless".

It has been a great privilege for me to command such a well-knit, responsiveand happy Ship's Company. My best wishes to you and your families for thefuture, and may this book help you share and cherish your memories of thisfine ship with them.

God bless you all.

20th March 1972 Captain, Royal Navy 31st December 1972 Captain, Royal Navy

Rear Admiral J. D. TreacherThe Flag Officer Carriers and Amphibious Ships (1)

Rear Admiral R. D. LygoThe Flag Officer Carriers and Amphibious Ships (2)

The Commander-in-ChiefAdmiral Sir Edward Ashmore, K.C.B., D.S.C.

Flag Officer, MaltaRear Admiral J. A. Templeton-Cotill, C.B.

Commodore (A.W.)Commodore R. W. Halliday, D.S.C.

Commander 3 Commando Brigade, Royal MarinesBrigadier P. J. Ovens, O.B.E., M.C.

Commander 24 Airportable BrigadeBrigadier K. Perkins, M.B.E., D.F.C.

CHRISTMAS 1972

STATISTICS OF COMMISSIONTotal mileage 66,230No. of Passages 86No. of R.A.S. 44No. of Assault Landings 68Amount of F.F.O. burnt 16,569 tons

No. of Helo Landings (Day) 4,246(Night) 305

No. of Aircraft carried 54Max Landings in a day 92

The Commissioning, 12th February 1971

H.M.S. Fearless' third Commission commenced with the ship's Com-pany moving on board one cold grey morning early in November 1970.It was a relief to graduate from Benbow Huts in Drake, but there waslittle to warm a sailor's heart until, with the approach of Christmas,Miss Westcountry, Wendy May, came to stir the Christmas Pudding.She was ably assisted by the new Commanding Officer, Captain BryanStraker and the ship's Folk Group led by the Executive Officer,Commander Alastair Anson, provided the music. The passing ofNelson's Blood a few months earlier created a problem for the Chefs,but Petty Officer Wong gladly stepped into the breach by volunteeringthe wardroom supply.

RE-COMMISSIONING DAY, 12th FEBRUARY 1971

With the Festivities over the ship sailed early in January for accep-tance trials. The seas were rough and it was evident that during the refitmany lost their sea legs. With nothing more serious diagnosed the shipreturned to Devonport for Commissioning Day, the Ceremony beingconducted by the ship's Chaplain, the Reverend Michael Gray, on 12thFebruary 1971.

The occasion was attended by representatives of all the Services andincluded Lady Hull, the ship's sponsor who was accompanied by

herhusband, Field Marshal Sir Richard Hull. Lady Hull launched the shipand. takes a keen interest in all our activities.

Lady Hull cuts the Commissioning Cake

Papa Doc Cardy is received on the Flight Deck

Foxtrot Two embarks her load in Lulworth Cove

THE WORK UP

Our departure from Devonport in mid-February was followed by avery arduous four-week Work-Up at Portland. The following songwritten and sung to F.O.S.T. during our stay, adequately sums up ouractivities there

(1) Ach Dear Father did we have to come to PortlandOne week in Harbour and another three at seaWe like to see the Dutchmen, the Germans and the EnglishmenWhen the War is over you can takes us back again.

Chorus Distex, Riotex, Awkward and G.D.X.Breakdowns, closing downs, and N.B.C.D.I's.Oh how we've had our fillOf Board and Tow and docking drillBallasting, Replenishment for Staff to criticize.

(2) Ach Dear Father now that we have come to PortlandJust to cast a Jibe at the Handy Baggy tribeSwitch on our Skynet and wow what a thunderballSterlize the Naval Base for ever and for all.

Time has eroded Portland's harsher moments and. i t is now just anotherpleasant memory. The problem of welding a new ship's Company intoan efficient Fighting Force in a matter of weeks was very real and thisevidenced itself in our "Satisfactory" result. Nevertheless we all learneda lot and indeed. our experiences proved invaluable during the subse-quent exercises.

Following out hard-earned Easter Leave, we at last approached anactive period of Amphibiosity. Our Baptism was Exercise Nelson

Touch which took place in the Mull of Kintyre and. this provided thecurtain raiser for the larger Exercise Moon Lady

in Denmark. Thisperiod, with 24 Brigade and the Irish Rangers embarked, also incor-porated our Operational Readiness Inspection, during which F.O.C.A.S.(Rear Admiral J. D. Treacher) and his Staff investigated our prepared-ness for Amphibious duties.

The Exercise culminated in a 5-day visit to Copenhagen which wasa resounding success. The Tivoli Gardens, the live shows, the whisper-ing bushes, we saw them all and had our eyes opened, as did LordLongford, by the latest in Danish supermarkets!

June brought with it a change in role for Fearless. Instead of playinghost to a conventional Embarked Force we entertained a series ofschools' parties in a Meet the Navy tour of Great Britain. The regionalCareers Officers concerned were very appreciative of our efforts on theirbehalf for their recruiting figures subsequently took a healthy turn.

Having despatched our last schoolboy and benefited from somerecuperation in Portsmouth we sailed for a much heralded week in Kielto represent the Royal Navy at Kieler Woche. We arrived in Kiel on18th June to join ships from eight other countries for what proved to bea very hectic seven days. The week revolved around international sport-ing activities with Fearless doing exceptionally well in the shooting andsailing events. The best individual performance, however, was put upby the doctor at the local beer cellar. He emerged. undefeated and wasgiven the honorary award of "Weltmeister der englishen Marine inbiersaufen" by a distinguished team of German challengers. Our hostsarranged a considerable amount of entertainment which ranged from aday excursion to Berlin to a dance with partners provided. Perhaps thehighlight of the visit though was the yachting, for it was on the Kielcourse that the 1972 Olympics were to be held. Many British yachtsmenwere contending for Olympic places and the Navy offered all partici-pants a free return journey with their yachts and cars embarked. Whata multi-purpose vessel Fearless is!

A Soling is loaded for Kiel

The short passage to Portsmouth allowed insufficient time to recoverfrom our exploits in Kiel but we made the most of it prior to anotherseries of Meet the Navy visits, the first of which was to Southampton.Then with F.O. Plymouth embarked we took a group of Southernschoolboys to Cherbourg much to the amazement of our French hosts.The boys remained with us until our arrival at Avonmouth on 23rdJuly. During this 5-day visit a small party were fortunate enough topay a visit to Concorde and were given

V.I.P. treatment. Then came

Summer Leave in Guzz.

On 1st September we sailed south to the Mediterranean for our firstoverseas deployment. The sun was very hot and we did not need theSchoolie to forecast plenty of bronzy, bronzy ahead at Gibraltar.Charlie broke all N.A.A.F.I. record s with sun tan oil and Omegawatches on tick.

It was at this time, that the Captain, much to his dismay, discoveredthat his whites had. "Shrunk" since he last used them! He seemed mostanxious to find out who else shared his dilemma and much to our dis-appointment decided to hold Divisions to satisfy his curiosity. TheDoctor thinking this an ideal opportunity to check on the incidence ofvaricose veins on board decided to accompany the Captain throughout.Both were recorded to have drawn satisfaction from the exercise.

On 4th September we sailed farther east to Cyprus and commenced aseries of exercises culminating in the major Autumn N.A.T.O. Exercis eDeep Furrow. The first of these exercises was Double Base and this wasthe preliminary for a bigger exercise Royal Return when the "Royals"returned to Cyprus. Unfortunately, at this juncture the engines decidedto go on strike so the exercise had to be carried out with the ship atanchor. The lure of a visit to Limassol 50 miles to the east was, however,sufficient incentive for the ship to limp there on one engine. There wasalso an added attraction in that our visit coincided with the celebratedLimassol Wine Festival. So much free wine seemed a recipe for disasterbut all emerged unscathed apart from a few with vicious hangovers.During the Festival a concert was held in which Fearless provided sometalent. The Bosun who led the Choristers aquitted himself well and wassuperbly backed by the ship's group. Perhaps the sensation of theevening was Muscles Morgan the Fearless' Adonis of the Gunroom.

On 1st October we left sunny Cyprus and steamed to Brindisiostensibly to pick up the San Marco battalion of Italian Marines. It wasrumoured that they had received adverse reports concerning the ChiefCaterer's spaghetti for they thought better about joining us, so werereplaced by the American Marines who formed our embarked forceduring Exercise Deep Furrow. This was a N.A.T.O. commitmen t i n-volving an Assault Landing at Saros Bay in Turkey, during which wewere visited by the First Sea Lord. At the conclusion of the exercisemany of the ships proceeded to Istanbul for a recuperation period.Fearless, unfortunately, was anchored a long way from the "MainDrag" but those who made the pilgrimage ashore were well rewarded.This was a most interesting city with its ancient mosques and fascinatingbazaars. Our arrival coincided with the commencement of Ramadanand so we observed some interesting behaviour patterns amongst cardrivers during the late afternoon. All wrapped up in our new Suedecoats we sailed for Malta. Except for two of our Company who decidedto extend their stay. That proved an expensive decision.

Wardroom Chorus: "What shall we do with the drunken sailor"

Muscles Morgan

Although a period in Malta was scheduled in our original programme,Mr. Mintoff's financial demands cast a doubt on our visit and alterna-tive plans were made for an S.M.P. in Taranto. However, the situationin Malta calmed sufficiently to enable us to proceed as planned and wecompleted a very useful 10-day maintenance period there in October.Our embarked force, HQ 3 Cdo Brigade, repaired to Ghajn Tuffeihacamp to recuperate from their arduous exercises whilst "Jack" paintedthe ship, serviced the Hydraulics and cleaned the Boilers, to mentionbut a few things. These "Bootnecks" can never stand the pace!

It was during this period that we said goodbye to our Number Oneaccordionist, Commander

N. A. B. Anson. H e had served Fearlesswell and was replaced as Executive Officer by Commander M. D. Joel,our Number One Aston Martin Driver.

On 2nd November we left Malta for Cagliari in Sardinia, where wespent two days prior to continuing homewards via Gibraltar. Our visitto the Rock coincided with Remembrance Sunday and a Service withDivisions was held on the jetty. This visit also turned out to be amammoth pre-Christmas rabbit run for those who managed to getashore during the limited opening hours. Having put the final touchesto our Mediterranean tans we slipped and proceeded home to Devon-port, arriving on 18th November. With F.O.C.A.S.' impending HarbourInspection in Newcastle it was imperative that we make good use of ourtime in Guzz, in order to prepare the ship for the big day. The Dock-yard made a large contribution to this end by repainting the ship's sideand they also fitted two new five-bladed propellors. Mundane dockingperiods inevitably produce their lighter moments and this one was noexception. One humorous episode occurred as the Captain was joggingover the brow in a tracksuit having returned from a strenuous after-noon's tennis; he was suddenly accosted by a Junior who bawled, "Areyou the new Clubswinger mate?" A quick denial followed but, egobrimming over, the skipper beamed all the way to his shower.

1972 promised us a varied and interesting programme but much tothe delight of the R.A's. things got off to a bad start when mechanicaldifficulties caused a three-day delay. Eventually the problems wereovercome and we made our way to Rosyth to embark 45 Cdo and trans-port them, their vehicles, and equipment to Elvegard in Norway forExercise Clockwork. This exercise was designed to test men and equip-ment in sub zero temperatures so we were required to steam well insidethe Arctic Circle in order to achieve this.

Leaving Cagliari, Sardinia

Ski troops of 45 Cdo

Arctic 1972 White forecastle

Foxtrot 6 comes home

The Passage from Scotland was generally considered to be the worstof the Commission for in force 11 conditions the ship rolled as much as35 degrees either way. Work was virtually impossible and even thenormally industrious Pay Office shut up shop, though later Mr. Bonemaintained they locked the door solely to make up the Doctor's andDentist's Pay! Never has the sight of land been more welcome.

Besides the rough passage we were soon to face other problems forL.C.V.P. F6 had the misfortune to strike an underwater object in aFjord but gratefully the crew's shouts for submarine pay were quicklyheard. The cold and extended hours of darkness made the recoverydifficult but it was eventually achieved much to everyone's relief.Another disappointing aspect of the Exercise from the strategists' pointof view was the relatively mild weather which we enjoyed and it is ratherironical to record that the temperature was far colder on our subsequentvisit to Newcastle where we also saw our first snowfall of the year! Ashort visit to the town of Harstad concluded our Arctic adventures afterwhich we were exposed again to the full fury of the North Sea which hadnot abated since our last encounter. Clutching our "Bluenose" Certifi-cates we made for Newcastle and all that it promised.

Despite the blunder of a confused Pilot we safely made our way upthe River Tyne and secured under the shadow of the Tyne Bridge on21st January. Then began the task of putting the finishing touches to